Sister Space

Rising above emotions into the thinking of God

By Laila Muhammad | Last updated: Apr 10, 2014 - 8:35:29 AM

What's your opinion on this article?

“The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviors.”  ~Tony Robbins

laila_muhammad_ss_2014_7.jpg
The dictionary defines “Emotion” as “an affective state of consciousness in which joy, sorrow, fear, hate, or the like is experienced, as distinguished from cognitive and volitional states of consciousness. Any strong agitation of the feelings actuated by experiencing love, hate, etc., and usually accompanied by certain physiological changes, as increased heartbeat, respiration, or the like and often overt manifestation, such as crying or shaking.”

Is it me? Or have you noticed that our people are so confrontational, so aggressive, and so defensive? It seems we are always looking for a fight.  We sit on the edge of our seats waiting for someone to rub us the wrong way so we can leap like a lion when he sees a hyena and attack. Why are we so angry? Is our anger justified? Are we directing it at the right persons?  It appears sometimes most of our ability to control our emotions stem from us not having the tools or information necessary to do so.  We are projecting our pain onto whomever is in our path. And we can’t conjure the right words to express our feelings.

A friend and I were in a local area store the other day because I needed to buy a new lamp. I noticed the store had been expanded and I commented on how the checkout lanes were confusing. My friend jokingly said this is going to cause a problem because you have to give Black folks order, by clearly defining where the line begins. A gentleman who seemed to pay no attention to the imaginary roped off line, jumped in front of me to the next cashier, I snickered and waited patiently.

scripture_ss_04-15-2014.jpg

Should I have politely told him, “No sir, the line starts back there”?  I went over all the possible scenarios in my mind of the possible outcomes if I had done that.  My history teaches me, especially growing up on the South side of Chicago, that some things are better left unsaid. People will get offended no matter how nicely you say something. So I stood in line, and waited my turn, because in certain situations, neighborhoods and with certain mindsets of people; the odds are never in our favor.

But ‘lo and behold’, a Black woman standing behind me, decided that fair was fair, so she yelled at the gentleman, “Hey buddy the line starts all the way back there,” as she pointed to about 5 people behind her. He replied that he had not seen that there were two lines so he had just walked up to the shortest one.

They argued back and forth until it was his turn to check out. The woman was ticked off, called him all sort of names that his mother didn’t give him as he exited the store.

I thought to myself, look at all the confusion and chaos that happened in less than 5 minutes, all because of a misconception. The gentleman could have honestly not known where the line started or he could have. But there comes a point in time when we just have to let things go. The woman got herself all worked up, angry, acted other than herself in a public place, and the result was that nothing changed the circumstances. She clearly didn’t influence the man’s decision to move to the back of the line. All she did was embarrass herself and let her emotions get the best of her. The other patrons didn’t talk about the man’s behavior they talked about the rudeness of the woman.

The students in the Nation of Islam are given courses to study; one in particular is called Study Guide 18: Rising Above Emotion into the Thinking of God, wherein the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan teaches us about emotions. In this Study Guide he writes, “there is a defense mechanism which serves to protect the peace of the Community of our beliefs. Our beliefs support us in our actions and overall approach to life. Any principle or fact, whether real or imagined, that we encounter in life, either supports our beliefs or threatens them. Once something is perceived as a threat to our accepted beliefs, there is a reaction in the brain similar to the body’s antigen–antibody reaction, and instead of lymph cells, it is our emotions which rush to the defense of our threatened belief.”

He continues: “Thus, the emotional reactions to persons, events and circumstances are a defense mechanism, which quickly surrounds the accepted belief to protect it from succumbing to a new one. We may react with one of many different emotions, depending upon the nature of the threat —fear, anger, pride, etc. —but in any case, the emotion rises with great speed to ward off that which disturbs the community of beliefs. This is what is meant by the phrase, ‘rush of emotion’. It requires great and concentrated effort to take control over our emotions.”

How many times have we “gone postal”, “wilded out” or “snapped” on people for a small infraction, be it intentional or unintentional? We all know those people, who might even be us, who walk around with a chip on our shoulders, acting as if the world owes us something. We have to take time and look within ourselves, find the things that are triggering this behavior and be willing to do something to change. The only way to build a better community is by improving the people, one individual at a time, but it starts with self. The writer Charles Stanley said, “Disappointment is inevitable. But to become discouraged, there’s a choice I make. God would never discourage me. He would always point me to himself to trust him. Therefore, my discouragement is from Satan. As you go through the emotions that we have, hostility is not from God, bitterness, unforgiveness, all of these are attacks from Satan.” 

Yes we have a common enemy and the wicked rulers of this world are constantly trying to take us off the straight path, but I’m asking us to kill the devil within, for that is the greatest Jihad/war ….  the conquest of self.

May Allah (God) bless us all to study ourselves, recognize our impediments and find the tools to help to overcome them, that we may become better members of society. May he also bless us with calm spirits, patience, and not become so quick to react out of anger. And remember, that every time you look at the Black man and woman, you are looking at god, and how would you treat a god?

Final Call production assistant Laila Muhammad is also a Chicago-based writer and videographer.